Chicago, the winter before everything changed

Late snow over the neighborhood, seen through my own window at dusk. A job offer had just landed; graduation was a few months out. One of those evenings where you can feel the ground about to shift — a whole chapter ending, another not quite started.

I ran at dusk in those days, most days, usually a 10K, out along the lakefront while the light went. Standing at the window I was already half-thinking about the morning: which route, how the snow would slow the pace, the specific quiet of a city that’s just been covered.

That’s the trick I’ve kept from that winter. When the big things are uncertain, find the small thing you know you’ll do tomorrow — lace up, go run — and let the rest sort itself out while you’re moving.